


Never Let you Go

by Charlie_chan16



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Curing My Post Endgame Depression, F/M, Gen, Harley is Iron Lad, Harley is sad, I Will Go Down With This Ship, Kissing, M/M, Not Beta Read, Pepper Potts is the best mom, Tony Stark wants whats best for his Fam and the Russo's couldn't give us that, We Die Like Men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-12
Updated: 2019-07-12
Packaged: 2020-06-27 01:55:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19780852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Charlie_chan16/pseuds/Charlie_chan16
Summary: Harley wasn’t as quick to notice it as Ned was. Although he couldn’t really blame himself, he was enthralled with the new design he was working on, small notebook sprawled on his lap. So he didn’t notice it until Ned cried out: “we’re all gonna die!”Harley’s notebook was knocked to the floor in the sudden scramble, and he looked out the window himself. The Brooklyn bridge sped by them but didn’t keep their interest as all eyes locked on the Unidentified Flying Object hovering over downtown Manhattan.The first thing that came to Harley’s mind? It looked like a donut. Which reminded him he hadn’t had anything to eat for breakfast. The second? Ned might be right on the fact they might all die.





	Never Let you Go

**9.23 am Thursday 21** **st** **April 2018**

Harley wasn’t as quick to notice it as Ned was. Although he couldn’t really blame himself, he was enthralled with the new design he was working on, small notebook sprawled on his lap. So he didn’t notice it until Ned cried out: “we’re all gonna die!” 

At that, the whole class was moving, crowding the bus on his side (the one away from Peter because he hadn’t arrived in time to nab a seat beside him before Ned plopped himself next to the boy) to press their faces against the glass of the windows. 

Harley’s notebook was knocked to the floor in the sudden scramble, and he looked out the window himself. The Brooklyn bridge sped by them but didn’t keep their interest as all eyes locked on the Unidentified Flying Object hovering over downtown Manhattan. 

The first thing that came to Harley’s mind? It looked like a donut. Which reminded him he hadn’t had anything to eat for breakfast. The second? Ned might be right on the fact they might all die. 

Aliens were a bad thing. They usually visited Earth to eat people, take over, or in that one movie where they moved all the humans to one place to  _ then  _ almost get annihilated. It didn’t seem to be doing much at that moment in time. No lasers came out to burn the whole city, and no tractor beam either to drag people up for probing. 

As the bus driver complained at their sudden movement, Harley snapped his head around to look for Peter. He wasn’t there. What’s worse, the window next to his seat was open. Harley frowned in concern but couldn’t risk taking out his phone just yet to check on him. The teachers would murder him. 

That didn’t stop Harley from fidgeting the whole bus ride to the MoMA. He constantly tapped his fingers against his legs in weird rhythms, gaining strange looks from Michelle who sat beside him. 

Even though the girl had said for him to call her MJ – since she considered him a friend now – Harley preferred to call her Michelle, just like he preferred people to call him Harley rather than his middle name which had prompted a lot of bullying back in Rose Hill. 

He couldn’t take his mind off that donut ship. It seemed too ominous for it to just sit there in the sky. It must’ve had an ulterior motive, a purpose for being on Earth other than to look at the lovely New York view. But when he’d seen it at first there were no explosions, so no casualties. 

And yet, something itched at the back of his brain as the bus pulled to a stop way quicker than Harley thought it would. As he stepped out of the bus, he felt a want to jump back on again and order the driver to book it back to mainland Manhattan. 

Something was up, and Harley couldn’t fix it. Not until four pm at least. 

**3.39 pm Thursday 21** **st** **April 2018**

The art was interesting. But not enough to drive Harley away from glancing at his watch and checking his phone in his pocket. He had Ned keep an eye out for him in case a teacher was looking at him while he had it in hand. Well, in hand concealed in his pocket. 

He was starting to get worried by now. Neither his Mom, or Dad or even Peter had bothered to text him. Or email him as Mom was liable to do if she didn’t have good coverage. And he hoped to god Dad didn’t have anything to do with that ship. 

Both Pepper and Harley had had enough scares with everything Tony had done as Iron Man. And Harley would grab the Iron Lad armour and head straight for that ship if either of them were anywhere near it. 

The incessant droning of the tour guide suddenly cut off, and Harley sighed in relief. He was beginning to grate on the boy’s nerves. 

A terrified scream drew his attention from where he was peeking inside his pocket and his head darted up. What he saw terrified him. 

People were turning to ash. Literal fireplace ash and drifting to the floor on non-existent wind. He could hear blood pumping in his ears as he started to panic. 

What was this? Who caused this? Why did they do this? Harley spun on the balls of his feet as he watched people disappear one by one. 

The tour guide. 

The security guards. 

The cashiers at the museum’s shop. 

His teacher. 

“H-Harley?” a chocked gasp snagged his attention and his heart rate spiked as his breathing hitched. 

Ned. Michelle. Both were beginning to disintegrate, and Harley darted forward to grab hold of their hands. 

He was crying now, the tears thick and fast as he tried to swallow around a lump in his throat. “No,” he whispered, watching his friends disappear, turning into ash in his hands. 

“No,” he said again, falling to his knees as he and a few people were left in the hall, and possibly in the whole museum. “W-What happened? Ne-ed? M-Michelle?” he called out weakly, curling in on himself. 

“Where’d you go? Y-You can’t leave! N-Not like Mom. Not l-like Abbie,” he wailed, and he could hear others doing the same, calling out for loved ones, friends, sons, daughters, grandkids, everyone who somehow disappeared within the blink of an eye. 

Harley grasped at the ashes on the floor, and like he was used to, he tried to fix it, desperately putting the bits together to make a whole. He could see others doing it too, almost looking as crazed as he felt. 

He slammed his hands on the ground in anger, then stopped abruptly when he saw that it moved the ashes around. He gasped in shock and grabbed them again when they threatened to float off. 

He stayed kneeling on the floor for a few minutes before crying out and grappling for the phone in his pocket. He didn’t spare any attention for the lack of texts, just pulled up the phone and jabbed a finger desperately at the first important number he spotted. 

Peter’s. 

“ _ We’re sorry, but the person you are calling is not in service. Please hang up, and try again later, _ ” the automated voice told him, and he shook his head in shock. 

He tried the same number again but got the aforementioned answer. It was the same when he tried his Dad. However, it seemed that his Mom had just turned her phone off, or at least that’s what the automated voice told him. 

Okay. So his Mom could call him back, could even be at the tower. She had a meeting planned with the board of executives. That is, if she was still alive. 

_ No! Don’t think that Keener. One step at a time,  _ Harley thought, picking himself up from the floor. He was proud of himself that his legs didn’t buckle as he ran for the front door, sprinting past the empty reception desk. 

Outside was pure chaos. He could see multiple fires across the Manhattan skyline and watched as a helicopter fell to the ground. 

That could’ve been a plane, one filled with people with no pilots. He shuddered to think what else was happening around the world and how many more casualties would occur due to the amount of people disappearing. 

Getting back to the tower would take a while, what with Harley not able to drive  _ as of yet _ and having to get through the mania that would be the streets with the amount of cars that could be stacked on top of each other, or left in the middle of the road.

Getting back to the main island was easy as most people had pulled over their cars or had disappeared and crashed into the barriers. 

It felt like the apocalypse as he passed some people sitting in the middle of the road in shock while others wailed and cried. Some had even already started to loot the cars around them, and Harley had had to put the training he’d received from Captain Rodgers to good use as he tore a man away from grabbing a woman’s purse. 

The city’s streets were way worse. A lot more cars meant a lot more crashes. The sky was filled with smoke from multiple fires and the noise level felt like it was cranked to eleven. 

Harley hated to think of Peter in this situation. _Peter._ Harley didn’t even know whether he was alright, didn’t _have_ a way to find out anyway. 

He kept the hope that his boyfriend was alright as he sprinted through the streets, some people even grabbing the bottoms of his trouser legs as he passed, calling out for help, someone anyone  _ please find my baby— _

The tower seemed untouched when Harley arrived, and he spotted the tail of the helicopter he had seen go down on the roof of an apartment block. Someone had gotten there in time and had put out the fire that would’ve destroyed the whole building. 

It had taken a while to get to the building; a few hours at most but it was enough time for a crowd to surround the front entrance. Harley didn’t stop to look however and rounded to the back, hunching his shoulders and keeping his head down to avoid being spotted. 

He gained access easily, FRIDAY letting him in once he’d passed his card over the sensor. Few people were in the tower, most rushing about the place to deal with the people outside while a few others had their attention glued to the tv screens dotted around the lobby. 

There was no news anchor, just the headlines running on the bottom of the screen. Harley didn’t have time to look as he darted into the private elevator and pressed the button for the penthouse floor. 

He allowed himself to breathe for a few minutes, watching as the seconds and floors ticked by. He had no idea what had happened but did know whatever it was wouldn’t be easy to fix. People disappearing into ash wasn’t normal, hell was  _ unheard of  _ until today.

Pepper was there, standing in the middle of the main corridor with her phone pressed to her ear. She paced the length of the area frantically, muttering under her breath. 

She caught sight of Harley and cried out, rushing towards him to cradle him close to her. And he let her, laying his head on her shoulder in relief and breathing in her familiar scent. 

Finally, he let himself release the tension and stress he’d kept in his chest the whole way back in a heart wrenching sob. Pepper shushed him and stroked his head, rocking them from side to side as they comforted each other. 

Everything was going to be different now. 

**6.03 pm Monday 25** **th** **April 2018**

He and Pepper spent the next few days in the upstate compound. The rest of the Avengers came to join them once they’d done what they could to aid the clean-up in Wakanda. Harley had never liked Captain America after he found out what happened between him and his Dad (through some easy hacking into some simple security cameras) and didn’t talk to him much. 

In fact, he blatantly ignored the man, and anyone that came into his lab save for Rhodey and Pepper. 

He’d spent the past three days doing what he did best; building. 

He made a new and improved Droney for when Peter returned, now with retro-reflector panels and its own taser webs to help Peter when he was in a bind. He made a new garotte watch for Aunt Nat, for if and when she next went on a spy mission. 

It kept his mind from spiralling; thinking of everything that could’ve happened to Peter, to Dad. They could’ve been dusted, or worse killed which meant they’d never be able to get them back. 

He’d heard from Uncle Rhodey what’d happened. How a guy named Thanos decided to play God by wiping out half of the population using these rocks called ‘Infinity Stones’. He’d found out from Thor that they’d fought the guy, almost losing everyone on the team with trying to kill him. 

Apparently, Thanos had disappeared to god knows where. Probably halfway across the Galaxy where Harley couldn’t travel to kick the guy in the balls for what he had done. 

They’d heard no word from Tony, or Peter. And they weren’t expecting them, satellites couldn’t pick up any Unidentifiable Objects within their solar system and they couldn’t go further than Saturn with their scans.

Harley was beginning to lose hope, which is how he found himself holed up in his lab. Building, and shoving his anxiety far down into his stomach. 

That didn’t stop his brain from conjuring images of his friends turning to dust in his hands and Harley felt so helpless and desperate and  _ please someone help them— _

The door to the lab was sent flying open, causing Harley to jump from where he was bent over his newest project. Pepper strode up to his desk, suddenly gathering him in her arms abruptly, startling the poor boy. 

“M-Mom?” he asked quietly, fearing the worst. He could feel Pepper shake in his arms, and Harley’s heart cracked in two. 

“We found him,” she whispered into his hair, and Harley stepped back. A wide grin was splitting Pepper’s face in two, even though tears were running down her face in rapid succession. “He’s thirty minutes out, they would’ve run out of fuel if someone hadn’t found him. 

“Who found him?” Harley asked desperately. 

“We don’t know, they wouldn’t say over the message they sent,” she replied. “But he’s okay, and he’s coming home.” Once again Harley was gathered into a tight hug, and he laughed breathlessly in relief. 

They were okay! Peter and his Dad were coming home! 

**6.33 pm Monday 25** **th** **April 2018**

It was a different ship to the one Harley had seen four days ago – it was weird to think it was four days since both Ned and Michelle had disappeared—

The glowing thing – or person? – guiding the ship gently placed it onto the front lawn, where Pepper, Harley and Rhodey stood waiting. Harley could hear the rest of the Avengers slowly make their way out of the compound. He resisted turning around to glare, his Mom’s hand on his shoulder grounding him. 

The glowing thing turned out to be a woman, but Harley couldn’t recognise her as she came towards them. 

The main door to the ship fell open, and two people came out; one supporting the other. Harley began to sprint up to his Dad once he’d recognised him, causing the person supporting him to let go. 

Harley never realised how tall he was unless he was hugging his Dad. Half a head taller than the great Tony Stark, Harley was able to lay his head against the man’s shoulder easily. And that’s exactly what he did, feeling the man’s arms come up to grip onto his shirt tightly. 

Pepper joined them not a moment later, and Harley became the middle of the ‘parent sandwich’. 

Harley wiped his tears as he glanced eagerly towards the ships entrance, willing Peter to walk through, babbling out ‘sorry’ and ‘won’t ever do that again’ until Harley would hug and kiss him to shut him up. 

That didn’t happen and from behind him, Harley heard the worst four words in the world at that moment. 

“I lost the kid,” Tony murmured, and Harley fell to his knees, the tears starting up again as he stared emptily at the ship as the door closed, cutting off his one hope of seeing his boyfriend again. 

**4.46 pmTuesday 3** **rd** **May 2018**

Harley had been inconsolable in his grief. He was angry at first, slamming his hands against his frail father’s chest as he screamed “bring him back! You were supposed to protect him! Bring him back!” 

Tony took it, didn’t even try to yell back at his son. Just hugged him with all his might when Harley was finished, sobbing into Tony’s shirt until he quieted. 

Like with his Mom and Abbie, Harley didn’t go through the five stages of grief. He only had two minds; anger and emptiness.

He’d shout and scream at anyone who came near him, throwing his tech on the floor in anger. 

He would spend hours lying in bed and staring at the ceiling, not reacting to anything, not Pepper coming in to give him food, not Rhodey when he came in to talk. 

It got so bad that at one point his Dad crawled into bed with him and Harley broke down in tears again for what felt like the hundredth time, clutching onto Tony and sobbing into his pillow. 

The nightmares came back to haunt him too. Gone were the ones of Abbie and his Mom begging him to save them from their burning house, replaced by Ned, Michelle and Peter asking him to remember them as they disappeared; slipping through his fingers all the time. 

It wasn’t until eight days later when the cycle broke and a sliver of hope appeared. They’d found him; the purple grape only a few Galaxies away. 

They were leaving in a few hours, Tony had said. “And no you’re not allowed to come,” he’d reprimanded as Harley started to stand from his desk chair. 

They’d left with no fanfare, and Harley clutched onto the communicator Tony had handed him. “Keep this safe,” he’d said, curling Harley’s fingers around the device carefully. 

They were gone for a few hours before Harley’ comm beeped a few times, and Tony’s voice came through the tinny speakers. 

“The stones are gone,” he said, sounding exhausted. “Thanos is dead. We can’t get them back.” 

That’s when Harley had accepted it; they were never coming back. Peter was dust. So was Ned and Michelle. And life would never be the same again. 

**11.23 am Wednesday 3** **rd** **June 2020**

It’d been two years since the Battle of Wakanda. Two years since Tony returned from space without his kid, to Harley’s broken heart and a broken world around him. 

Tony had done what he thought was best for his family. A few miles out of New York, he’d built a house by a lake for his wife. With a vegetable patch for himself and a lab to share with his son in the garage, like the one he’d made for him in Rose Hill. And a new tent for his two year old daughter. 

Pepper had told him she was pregnant a day after he returned to Earth the first time and Morgan Stark was born in October 2018. 

The family had never been the same since 2018. Tony felt as if there was a Peter shaped hole in his chest. He often heard Harley jolt awake from nightmares and had on a few occasions rushed into his son’s bedroom to calm him. And Pepper would sometimes rush into the lab to only kiss Tony and Harley and wander back into the kitchen again. 

It changed however when Captain Rodgers, Natasha and another guy who Tony recognised but couldn’t place wandered up his drive. 

“Nice car Cap. Where’d you get it? I hope it wasn’t my garage at the compound,” Tony called from where he was picking Morgan up to bring her inside again. He could see Harley come out of the lab; hands coated in oil as he took in the situation before him. 

“Stark, we need to talk,” Steve replied, and Harley glared at the man as Tony brought Morgan to Pepper. 

Harley didn’t like the idea of this plan, “time heist” whatever it was. It sounded like a bunch of crap and like it could get his Dad killed. Tony sent them on their way quite snappishly however, and Steve gave him a long suffering look before getting into the car. 

“Please don’t tell me you’re considering it,” Harley said that night, sitting next to Morgan on the stairs. His little sister grabbed for the strings of his hoodie, placing them in her mouth and chewing. 

“It’s a big thing, very dangerous,” Tony said, tapping a pen against the table in front of him. 

“Then I’m coming,” Harley said, standing with Morgan on his hip. 

“No, no way in hell,” Tony said sharply, glaring at his son. “I’ve already lost one kid. I  _ can’t  _ lose another one.” 

“Then why build me the Iron Lad armour? Why train me all those months? I’m coming, whether you like it or not,” Harley replied, and that was how the two of them found themselves driving back to the compound, music blaring the whole way. 

Steve was waiting for them when they arrived, leading them into the compound where they began to make a plan. 

**5.56 pm Monday 23** **rd** **June 2020**

The plan was set, tech tested, and teams formed as they waited for the machine to start up. Harley felt as though the suit he wore was too tight but didn’t complain. After all, Tony had barely been able to hold him back from coming, he’d banish him to his room in the compound if he began to whine. 

He was meant to go with his Dad, Antman and Rodgers to 2012 where they’d retrieve the space stone from their past selves. Well, Tony and Steve’s past selves, Harley was still in Rose Hill at that time. 

However, they didn’t account for certain  _ complications _ , for example Hulk’s hatred of stairs which caused Tony to drop the Tesseract and lose it while Harley and Scott had dealt with the security system and briefcase respectfully. 

Tony sent the two of them home, while he and Steve went on to fix their mistake. Harley didn’t appreciate being treated like a child, but he and Scott went back to their own time and minded the compound. 

They gained the stones easily, and Aunt Nat and Clint came back attempting to look sombre whilst holding back laughter. When asked, they didn’t elaborate and just handed over the soul stone easily. 

Harley couldn’t believe they’d done it, not until he felt his phone buzzing against his thigh with a missed call from Ned and Michelle. 

Then it all went to held in a Louis Vuitton handbag. 

An ear-splitting  _ bang  _ and a ton of rock collapsing later, Harley found himself attempting to dig himself out of the pile of rubble he found himself in, thanking any deity who’d listen for the fact that he’d changed into his Iron Lad suit. 

The purple and gold metal glinted in the red flashing lights as he breached the surface, coughing from the dust in the air as he took in the area above. 

He’d landed a couple meters from the blast zone and had to take a few minutes to get over the ridge of rubble. He could only listen to the sounds of his teammates grunts and shouts of pain, his comm damaged from the initial blast, and subsequent almost crushing and unable to speak to any of them. 

“FRI point me in the direction of Dad,” Harley called into his suit once he reached the top of the hill of bricks and rubble. 

“Calculating the easiest route now,” she replied as Harley attempted to test his thrusters. One was down to forty three percent capacity, sputtering sparks every few seconds. 

Multiple portals opened at that seconds as FRIDAY showed him his route. Flying there was a bit difficult, the suit dipping and rising with every sputter the boot made, but Harley got their in the end, the whine of his repulsors firing up music to his ears. 

“Harls! Are you okay?” Tony called through the comms and Harley held a thumbs up when Tony became level with him in the sky. 

The battle was epic, and Harley mourned the fact that he hadn’t added speakers to listen to music. He tag teamed with multiple other people, and at one point he saw an alien with antennae sending people to sleep with her will. 

He stayed well away from her – him? They? It? 

There was a thwipping sound above his head and the Iron Spider suit dropped down in front of him, coolly punching an alien dog thing with multiple arms in the face, sending it hurtling to the ground. 

Peter’s helmet melted into the main body of his suit as Harley did the same. “I just want you to know that I’m sorry and I’ll never do that again—” Harley cut him off with a kiss, holding Peter’s face in his hands as the battle waged around them. 

“I’ve wanted to do that for  _ two years  _ Space Boy,” Harley said, his green eyes raking over his boyfriend’s face, cataloguing each freckle and blemish he could see. “Huh, guess I can call you that unironically now.” 

The two of them quickly turned and took out an alien that had been coming up from behind Harley, sending the thing to the ground. 

“You look so damn sexy in your suit,” Peter said breathlessly, and Harley winked at him, boosting himself into the air as Peter followed behind. 

Harley was surprised at how many aliens he managed to take down, he and Peter made a game of it much like Legolas and Gimli in Lord of the Rings. Although, Peter couldn’t hear Harley since his comms were damaged. 

It happened suddenly. The fighting stopped, and the bad guys began to disappear into dust, much like how Ned and Michelle did two years ago— _ Keener stop it!  _

Harley quickly turned to Peter and the two of them rushed to find the others. 

They were in a line; Captain America, Iron Man, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Hulk and Captain Marvel – who Harley had found was so cool – breathing heavily as they watched the purple grape himself fade into ashes. they each looked a bit singed, as if they’d finished rolling on the ground to put out fires on their clothes. 

There was silence for a few seconds as the two boys made their way over. “Does this mean I  _ don’t  _ get to punch him?” Harley asked, breaking the silence and causing laughter to fill the space instead. 

He let Tony pull him into a tight hug, kissing the side of his head. Peter was dragged into it two and given the same treatment, and then the two boys were left alone. 

They hugged. And kissed. And hugged some more. 

They looked at each other for minutes on end, tracing their facial features as if putting them to memory.

“I’m never letting you go,” Harley told Peter, and the younger boy glanced up to him, lovingly. 

“Neither am I.” 

**Author's Note:**

> This ship cured me of my Post-Endgame depression. Literally. I did want to see what would happen if Peter had stayed on the bus, and here we go. Also I'd want Pepper as my Mom if I could, she's the best. Also kudos to the person who can find the ABBA reference! ;)


End file.
